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Category: Fishing and Hunting

  • Wild Things: Spring Fishing, Bird Migration Highlight Late March Outdoors

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    Spring’s arrival this weekend means that more fishing and birding opportunities are just around the corner. Lake Michigan tributary anglers are finding the first wave of spawn-minded rainbow trout in the deeper runs, and northern pike and walleyes are migrating toward Green Bay’s creek mouths and nearshore shallows. Brown trout and an occasional laker have […]

  • Wild Things: COVID-19 Doesn’t Stop Shoppers but Guts Second Spring Hearing

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    For the second straight year, the Wisconsin Conservation Congress and Department of Natural Resources (DNR) have announced that the annual spring hearings will be online only because of the COVID-19 pandemic. With case numbers falling rapidly and big-box stores packed with hundreds of shoppers every hour, it’s hard for this writer to understand why a […]

  • Wild Things: Jeff Pritzl Named DNR’s New Deer Program Specialist

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    A face familiar to northeast Wisconsin hunters has been chosen to replace Kevin Wallenfang as the Department of Natural Resource’s (DNR) Deer Program specialist. Jeff Pritzl has been a wildlife biologist for nearly three decades, and about half of that time in Door, Kewaunee and Manitowoc counties. For the past 14 years, he’s served as […]

  • Wild Things: LaBarbera Selected to Lead Wisconsin Wildlife Federation

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    After 18 years of building the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation (WWF) into the largest conservation organization in Wisconsin, Executive Director George Meyer announced Tuesday that the group has hired Mark LaBarbera to replace him in July. Meyer, who is retiring from the WWF position this summer, spent three decades with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). […]

  • Wild Things: NRB Approves Short Window for Winter Wolf Hunt, Trapping

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    Will the legal battle over wolves ever end? The on-again, off-again plan to manage gray wolves has taken more twists and turns than the curvy section of Highway 42 near Northport. Wolves have been delisted and relisted as federally endangered species five times during this century alone, and none of them due to declining populations. […]

  • Wild Things: Perch, Pike, Trout and ’Eyes

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    Whitefish not the only game in town Ice anglers have a smorgasbord of species to choose from when heading out onto the frozen waters of Green Bay. A terrific deep-water fishery for whitefish is the focus of many trips, but they’re certainly not the only possible catch. If you don’t mind sorting through smaller ones, […]

  • Wild Things: DNR Reconsiders, Suggests Split of Door Deer-Management Units

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    Jeff Pritzl, the Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) Northeast District wildlife supervisor, said the wheels are in motion for Door County to be split into multiple deer-management units. “We know a lot of hunters wanted the split on the table, and now it is,” Pritzl said. The DNR’s Deer Advisory Committee – a group of […]

  • Wild Things: DNR Misses the Boat on Dividing Door North-South

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    When it comes to deer and deer hunting, there’s no way to make season recommendations that will please everyone. But if you’re one of the more than 300 hunters who provided written comments on the Door County Deer Advisory Council’s (CDAC) preliminary three-year population objectives and unit boundaries, you might feel doubly frustrated this week. […]

  • Wild Things: Time to Split Door for Deer?

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    CDAC to vote virtually Jan. 25 Is there enough support for Door County Deer Advisory Council (CDAC) members to vote to split the management unit north and south? We’ll find out Monday night, when CDAC members meet via Zoom or phone to finalize three-year goals on what direction they’d like to see the local deer […]

  • Wild Things: Free Fishing Weekend Jan. 16-17 Offers Cold, Hard Opportunity on Ice

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    A mostly mild start to January is expected to give way to more winter-like weather during the coming weeks, much to the delight of ice anglers and others who enjoy a walk on the wild side. This weekend will be Wisconsin’s annual Winter Free Fishing Weekend: an opportunity for both residents and nonresidents who don’t […]

  • Wild Things: Wolf Debate Heating Up as State Eyes Management

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    Gray wolves lost protections under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) Monday, offering lethal control options to states suffering losses of livestock, pets and wildlife. But a Wisconsin hunting and trapping season will happen in 2021 only if expected legal challenges from animal-activist organizations are unsuccessful. “We’re prepared. We’ve managed wolves before,” said Keith Warnke, administrator […]

  • Wild Things: More Than 7,000 Deer Taken from Kewaunee/Door Peninsula in 2020

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    Kewaunee and Door county hunters have trimmed more than 7,000 whitetails from the peninsula this season, and they’re not finished yet. The antlerless-only firearm deer “holiday hunt” runs through New Year’s Day, and the bow and crossbow deer season has been extended through Jan. 31. All hunters – except those taking part in a late Canada […]

  • Tales from the Trails: J.B. Sensenbrenner’s ‘The Love of Hunting’

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    by Mike Shaw, Peninsula Pulse contributor Few endeavors lend themselves better to storytelling – and in some instances, embellishment – than fishing and hunting. Jim “J.B.” Sensenbrenner of Appleton, a part-time Door County resident, certainly thinks so. He also felt that all of us reluctant shut-ins could use a good yarn or two, which is […]

  • Wild Things: Holiday Deer Hunt on Its Last Legs?

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    Deer committee hears concerns If you’re a fan of late gun deer-hunting opportunities and still have tags open, there will be an opportunity to try for some venison Dec. 24-Jan. 1. Both Door and Kewaunee counties are included in the “holiday hunt”: a nine-day, antlerless-only season designed to reduce the herd in specific farm zones.  […]

  • Wild Things: Forestry Concerns Cited as Council Votes for Fewer Deer

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    For the third time since forming in 2014, the Door County Deer Advisory Council (CDAC) wants hunters to try to decrease the peninsula’s whitetail herd. “With the lack of forestry regeneration, it’s still totally evident there’s too many deer on the landscape,” said council member John Propsom of Sturgeon Bay. The Door CDAC – which comprises […]

  • Wild Things: Door’s Deer Harvest Dips, Kewaunee’s Rises Slightly

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    A slower-than-expected gun deer hunt in Door County was still a good one, with more than 2,000 whitetails taken. Although the nine-day preliminary numbers weren’t available at the time of this writing Monday night, Door hunters reported 610 bucks and 600 antlerless deer the first two days of the season – down 12.1 percent from 2019. […]

  • Wild Things: Nearly Perfect Opening-Weekend Weather a Boost to Deer Hunt

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    10-day muzzleloader season is up next What a difference a year makes. Disgruntled hunters lambasted Department of Natural Resources (DNR) wildlife staff last fall after a triple whammy produced the fewest gun deer whitetails since 1981. The latest possible gun deer opener in 2019 meant the rut was largely over; strong winds affected movement; and […]

  • Wild Things: Hunters Hope Rain Holds Off for Annual Gun Deer Opener

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    As if 2020 hasn’t had enough bad news, forecasters have predicted the possibility of more than an inch of rain during the opening weekend of the gun deer hunting season. No matter the weather, thousands of hunters will take a break from the almost nonstop noise about politics, COVID-19 and the latest gossip about celebrities […]

  • Wild Things: It’s the Final Countdown: Gun Deer Opener Is Nov. 21

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    If ever there was a year to escape to the outdoors, this is it. COVID-19 and political bickering have tarnished 2020, filling the airwaves and social-media feeds with conflicting and misleading information. There’s no escape. Or is there? Some of the best social distancing on the planet is taking place in fields and forests up […]

  • Wild Things: Peninsula, State Deer Kill Up More Than 20 Percent

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    Wisconsin’s blaze-orange army of 600,000 or so gun hunters has only two short weeks to prepare for the 2020 opener, set for Nov. 21. After a sub-par, nine-day November gun deer harvest last season – much of it blamed on the latest possible opener and less-than-ideal conditions – whitetail fanatics are hoping the gun hunt […]